


Lips Like Candy

by where_you_go



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Kissing, Lipstick & Lip Gloss, Makeup, Multi, Nail Polish, Reggie Peters Wears Makeup (Julie and The Phantoms)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29631411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/where_you_go/pseuds/where_you_go
Summary: Reggie definitely shouldn't be snooping around Julie's room while she isn't there, but when she catches him messing around with some of her nail polish, well. Who knew there was so many different kinds of make-up? And who knew he'd look so good in it?(Julie. Julie knew. Luke finds out.)
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters
Comments: 16
Kudos: 96





	Lips Like Candy

**Author's Note:**

> From a trope mash-up prompt on [tumblr](https://where-you-go.tumblr.com/post/643773213058449408/julielukereggie-makeover-first-kiss-please), where anon asked: Julie/Luke/Reggie Makeover + First kiss please!
> 
> Specific content warnings: some intense kissing, implied sexytimes (it fades to black at the end)
> 
> There is also some discussion of make-up being "girly" and Reggie's discomfort with that, but I like to think that Reggie's been doing a little gender and sexuality soul-searching at this point and is coming to terms with some things. Also, it's not mentioned, but Luke is definitely trans in this fic, just like all my other fics (there's something in there about Luke's discomfort with make up, etc but I couldn't quite figure out what I wanted to do with that here, so maybe in a future fic or something).

Reggie knows he shouldn’t be snooping through Julie’s bedroom, but he’s _so bored_ waiting for her to come home from school and Julie has so many cool things in her room!

He’s already poked around her bookshelf, looking at all the titles and flipping through ones he thought might be interesting. He pulled those out a little so that he could find them again when he wasn’t feeling so bouncy and like he might have enough attention to sit down and read. 

But he’s feeling too restless to read right now, so instead he sits in her desk chair and spins around, looking for something else to occupy his hands. 

His eyes catch on a small glass bottle holding a thick, glittery pink liquid inside and he snatches it up from where it’s sitting on her vanity desk. 

The last time Reggie had worn nail polish was twenty-five years ago, when he’d stolen a small bottle of cheap black polish from the grocery store. His painting job had been a mess, polish spilling all over his fingers and he’d had to paint over quite a few places where the drying polish had smeared because he’d hit his nails before they were set. He’d hadn’t had the forethought to steal any nail polish remover, but the black was very forgiving of his mistakes, once it had rubbed off his skin. 

It had started chipping within the next day, but Reggie hadn’t cared. He had loved how his painted nails looked when he fingered the strings of his bass — and quite of few of their lovely fans had agreed with him.

He can tell just by looking that this bottle of pink polish is a lot nicer than his stolen bottle of black and he wonders if it would last longer. 

He very carefully unscrews the top of the bottle, pulling out the brush and watching a huge glob of the polish bead up and drop back into the neck of the bottle. The pink is so vivid, it’s basically neon, and all the little bits of glitter shimmer enticingly in the sunlight. Reggie is mesmerized.

Julie won’t be mad if he borrows just a little bit, right?

He starts with his pinky nail, bringing the brush slowly to the center of his nail and pressing down. The droplet of polish immediately spreads out and floods the space between his nail and his finger. 

He makes a face. Well, ok, he’ll just have to be more careful with the next nail.

He swipes the brush a bunch of times on the edge of the bottle for the next nail, but then the swipes of the brush across his nail are too thin, barely any color or glitter. So he goes back for more polish and then ends up flooding this nail too.

Nail polish is so difficult, how did girls always get their nails looking so perfect?

By the time that Julie walks in to her room, Reggie has managed to work his way through his left hand, flooding most of his cuticles and smearing polish on his fingertips as well. There’s even a drop on his nose that ended up there by accident when he was concentrating so hard on getting the perfect amount of polish on the nail that he’d brought his face too close and hit himself with the brush. 

“What are you doing?” Julie asks loudly, startling Reggie out of his concentration.

He flings himself away from the desk to standing and holds up his hands like she’s a cop and he’s just been caught red-handed with the murder weapon.

If the tiny nail polish brush he’s clutching in his hand could be used to kill someone, that is.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, well, you see — I was just —” His voice goes squeaky and high-pitched, because Reggie never learned how to lie.

Julie crosses her arms and frowns. 

“You were just messing around in my room? With my stuff? When I specifically told you guys to stay out?”

“Don’t get mad at the guys, they haven’t been around all day and I was just bored waiting for you to get home, so I came in here and found your nail polish and I missed having painted nails so I thought I might try it out, but it’s a lot harder than I remembered…” Reggie frowned and trailed off, looking at his messy hand.

Julie sighed and shook her head, dropping her backpack next to her bed and waving a hand for Reggie to come over and sit on the bed with her. 

“We are going to have a talk about boundaries, Reg,” she says, trying to sound stern but Reggie can hear the fondness underneath it and it causes something warm and giddy to bubble up behind his sternum. He has to duck his head to hide a goofy grin. He _likes_ knowing that Julie is fond of him, in the same way he likes it when Luke slings an arm around his neck and drags him into a hug.

(Maybe he’s got a crush or two. Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it. They are so perfect together anyway, it’s not like anything is going to _happen_ , but he can still dream.)

“Show me the damage,” Julie says, sticking her hand out. Reggie carefully places his messy hand into her and watches as she winces. “This is…possibly the worst attempt at painting nails I’ve ever seen? At least since Flynn got her first manicure kit for her fifth birthday.”

“That’s harsh.”

“But true.”

Reggie nods because what is he supposed to say to that?

“Alright, let’s get this fixed, I can’t have you going on stage looking like this,” Julie says, jumping up to rummage through the drawers of her vanity. She brings out a large plastic tub that rattles loudly when she drops it on the bed next to him.

“What — I mean, Jules, you don’t have to do this, if you’re like busy or something, I can—”

“Clearly, you cannot,” she smirks, amused, as she pulls out a large bottle labeled “Acetone” and a bag of cotton balls. “You didn’t even pick a good color, what is this neon pink mess anyway? You’d look much better in like a red or black or, ooh, maybe like a burgundy.”

Reggie can feel himself flushing. “I liked the glitter,” he mumbles, but Julie nods like that’s totally normal.

“Ok, I’m pretty sure I have some holo reds in here, let me find them and you can tell me which one you like best.”

The next thirty minutes is comprised of what Reggie can only describe as “witchcraft”. Julie gets the goopy pink mess off his nails, then cuts and files each nail into perfectly smooth half-moon curves, tsking at him for chewing on his nails the whole time. Then she applies a pale base coat to each nail, explaining that it helps his nails stay healthy and strong.

While she carefully smooths several layers of a dark red but still glittery (he doesn’t know what “holo” means but Julie says it enough times that he just nods along and pretends like he does) polish over his nails, he tells her about the one bottle of black polish that he’d had back in the nineties and how he’d always wanted to go back and look at all the other colors, but he’d been afraid of getting caught.

“Caught by the owner for stealing?” Julie asks, rolling a bottle of clear top coat between her hand and the bed.

Reggie squirms, uncomfortably. “Or, you know, caught by the guys. ‘Cause liking nail polish and makeup is — well, it’s kinda girly?”

He doesn’t know if he’s expecting her to laugh at him or what — which makes _no sense_ because Julie has never tried to make him feel dumb or bad about himself. But still, some instincts die hard, he guesses.

Instead, Julie just hums and starts applying the clear coat of polish to his pinky. “Is there something wrong with being a girl?”

“What? No!”

“Then what’s wrong with having some fun?”

“I—” The words die in Reggie’s throat, because, as per usual, Julie’s right. He lets out a small giggle and Julie smiles at him. “Nothing, I guess.”

“Because if we really wanted to have some fun, you would look killer in some eyeliner and I know I have lipstick that’s almost the same color as this nail polish somewhere around here.”

Reggie can feel his eyes going wide at her suggestions. He had been known to let his eyes trail over the variety of colors and shades of makeup in the aisle, but he’d never — but, Julie was right. Why should he let anything hold him back from having fun?

He nods eagerly, “Ok, Julie, let’s do it. Can you show me how to put it on?”

“Yes!” she cheers like he just gave her the best present ever and he can't help but bounce excitedly along with her. 

Which explains a lot about the scene that Luke walks in on twenty minutes later. 

Reggie is leaning back against the headboard of Julie’s bed, with his hands held carefully out to the sides, and she’s perched in his lap, her legs wound weirdly around his, like she’s pinning him to the bed. Her left hand is curled around his chin, holding his face in place while her right hand carefully smears dark red lipstick across his parted lips.

Actually, pinning him to the bed might be an accurate description, considering how much he’d flinched and squirmed while she put the eyeliner on him. At least his eyes have stopped watering, now that they are no longer being repeatedly stabbed. 

“Ooooooookay…” comes Luke’s bewildered voice from the doorway of Julie’s room. “I feel like I’m interrupting something here? What’s going on?”

Reggie startles and tries to move his head to look at Luke, but Julie’s fingers tighten on his chin, keeping him in place.

“Don’t you dare move and mess this up again, Reginald,” Julie’s voice is like hardened steel and Reggie can’t stop the shiver it sends down his spine.

“You’re putting makeup on Reggie?” Luke moves further into the room and comes to stand behind Julie so he can watch over her shoulder. “Why are you putting makeup on Reggie?”

Julie furrows her brow and drags her nail down the side of his lip, before leaning back with a smile. She turns her head and looks at Luke, but doesn’t release Reggie’s chin. 

“Well, we painted his nails and then he needed to match his nails. And because he looks hot.” Julie uses her hand to lift Reggie’s chin, like he’s a piece of art for Luke to look at. “Don’t you think he looks hot, Luke?”

Reggie swallows hard as Julie’s words hit him like a punch in the gut. 

“Yeah,” Luke’s voice is hoarse and his eyes are dark, like he’s feeling the same heat that is flooding Reggie’s body and Reggie feels like he might combust under the intensity of his gaze. “Yeah, Reg, you look really hot like this.”

“We’ll have to do this again before our next show. You’ll look so good on stage, wearing your leather jacket. Our fans won’t be able to resist your flirtations, Reggie.”

Luke slides onto the bed behind Julie, wrapping his arms around her waist and hooking his chin over her shoulder, without taking his eyes off of Reggie’s painted mouth. Julie is still smirking smugly, but now her thumb is running gently over his jaw, like she doesn’t even realize what she’s doing with her hand but it’s all Reggie can feel.

Maybe it’s the closeness, the heat he can feel from both of their bodies or the way they’re both staring so intensely right at him, or maybe it’s the unfamiliar sticky feeling of the lipstick on his lips catching him off guard, but instead of agreeing that, yes, his flirting game will be unstoppable like this, he goes completely off-script and says, “What if it’s not our fans that I want?”

He can see Luke’s forearms flex from where they are wrapped around Julie’s midsection and she makes a small noise of shock. 

“Who,” Luke bites at his lower lip and Reggie can’t _not_ look at it, “ah, who _do_ you want, Reg?”

He could make it into a joke, say something about some dumb celebrity crush, aiming for the big leagues, but the moment is charged with some new tension, like they’re hovering on the brink of something and he can’t bring himself to ruin it. He can only push forward from here and hope he doesn’t ruin everything else in his life instead.

“You. Both of you.”

Julie says “Oh thank god” at the same moment that Luke buries his face in Julie’s shoulder and groans, “Finally!” and Reggie’s feeling even more confused than normal.

“Hey, wait, what?”

“We’ve been flirting with you for weeks now, you dork,” Julie says, but with that same fond tone that Reggie loves so much. 

“You’ve been driving us crazy,” Luke adds, lifting his eyes to look back at him.

“Wait, seriously? Me?”

Reggie feels a little lightheaded at the thought that _they like him_. They want him just like he wants them and that thought is a rush that nothing compares to. 

“Of course, it’s you, Reggie. It’s always been you, man.” 

“Oh,” and the sound is punched out of his throat because what else do you say when the most gorgeous people in the world are looking at you like you’re something special?

“Can I — would it be ok if I kissed you?” Luke asked, uncharacteristically tentative, but hopeful and Reggie’s nodding before he even finishes his words, because he’s never wanted anything more in his whole life.

Julie doesn’t move from where she’s sitting on his lap, instead her hand goes to the back of Reggie’s neck and she pulls him forward to where Luke is leaning over her shoulder and then Luke’s lips are on his and Reggie’s kissed plenty of people before but it’s never felt like this. It’s like being kissed for the first time but infinitely better _._

Luke’s mouth is a warm unyielding press against his own, overwhelming Reggie in the same way that Luke has always taken him over, filled his mind and consumed his thoughts. Reggie can’t think beyond the feeling of his lips smearing the lipstick, ruining Julie’s precise work. From the way that Julie’s fingers are clenching against the back of his neck, something tells him that she doesn’t mind all that much. 

They break apart, breathing heavily, staring wide eyed at each other. Luke’s mouth is stained dark red and the image of similar red marks in other places floods Reggie’s mind and he can’t help the small whimper he makes. 

Julie brings her hands to cradle Reggie’s face and uses her thumbs to swipe at the smudges of lipstick that he’s sure are everywhere.

“You got all messed up, babe,” she says wonderingly. Reggie would do anything to keep her looking at him like that all the time. 

“Do you want to teach me how to fix it?”

Julie hums, thoughtfully, “Maybe later.” And then her hands are sliding into his hair and pulling him to her lips and Reggie suddenly has better things to be doing than thinking about fixing his makeup.

**Author's Note:**

> Love you guys! Come say hi on [tumblr](where-you-go.tumblr.com)!


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